Los Angeles officials claim that an initiative requiring police to arrest illegal immigrant gang members did not get enough signatures to make next spring’s ballot, even though proponents assure they submitted the required amount.

Officials in the notorious illegal immigrant sanctuary city said that Jamiel’s Law, named after a high school football star murdered this year by a previously convicted illegal immigrant gang banger, failed miserably to get the required signatures to qualify for the 2009 municipal election.

The city requires 73,963 petition signatures from registered voters for an issue to make the ballot and Jamiel’s Law supporters said they submitted more than 76,000 to the city clerk this week. However, a few days later city election administrators said they tallied less than 20,000 signatures.

The huge discrepancy left many suspicious of the notoriously pro immigrant officials running the City of Angels, a renowned illegal immigrant haven. The slain teenager’s aunt, a major organizer for the ballot measure, said she couldn’t explain how the campaign’s estimate could be so vastly different from the city’s, pointing out that the police chief and mayor strongly oppose it.

The Los Angeles Police Department has an official don’t-ask-don’t tell policy (Special Order 40) that forbids officers from inquiring about an arrestee’s immigration status. Jamiel’s Law would require officers to identify and deport illegal alien gang members with violent histories, which opponents say would promote racial profiling.

Jamiel would still be alive if police bothered to inquire about his murderer’s immigration status during his numerous encounters with the law. Just one day after completing a jail sentence for a previous felony, the illegal alien gang banger (Pedro Espinoza) gunned the prep running back down as he walked home from the mall.

Besides serving prison time and getting arrested on numerous occasions, Espinoza was a known member of the Hispanic 18th Street Gang. Clearly, he should have been deported long ago yet remained in the country because local police departments throughout he Golden State refuse to enforce immigration laws.